March 05, '10: Multiple Sclerosis Research - Attn Gulf War Veterans with MS and other autoimmune m-s symptoms
Category: M.S. Research Study Reports
Posted by: stuart
March 5, 2010 by Denise Nichols - Veterans Today
Italian Researchers Discover A Possible Onset Mechanism For Multiple Sclerosis
A non-pathogenic bacterium is capable of triggering an autoimmune disease similar to multiple sclerosis in the mouse, the model animal which helps to explain how human diseases work. This is what a group of researchers from the Catholic University of Rome, led by Francesco Ria (Institute of General Pathology) and Giovanni Delogu (Institute of Microbiology), have explained for the first time in a recently published article on the Journal of Immunology.
Multiple sclerosis is caused by an inflammatory reaction provoked by the immune system, leading to disruption of the coating of the nerve fibres in the Central Nervous System.
“We do not know what causes multiple sclerosis”, explains Francesco Ria, immunologist of the Catholic University. “We know that there exists a genetic factor and an environmental factor, but we do not yet possess a satisfactory theory which can explain how exactly this environmental factor works”.
Currently, there are two competing theories in the field: according to a first hypothesis, a virus hides within the brain and what causes the disease is the immunologic antiviral reaction. On the other hand, the second hypothesis states that a viral or bacterial pathogen similar to specific molecules of the Central Nervous System causes an inflammation which provokes a reaction of the immune system. This reaction ends up destroying the brain cells. The latter is called the autoimmune hypothesis.
=============================================Italian Researchers Discover A Possible Onset Mechanism For Multiple Sclerosis
A non-pathogenic bacterium is capable of triggering an autoimmune disease similar to multiple sclerosis in the mouse, the model animal which helps to explain how human diseases work. This is what a group of researchers from the Catholic University of Rome, led by Francesco Ria (Institute of General Pathology) and Giovanni Delogu (Institute of Microbiology), have explained for the first time in a recently published article on the Journal of Immunology.
Multiple sclerosis is caused by an inflammatory reaction provoked by the immune system, leading to disruption of the coating of the nerve fibres in the Central Nervous System.
“We do not know what causes multiple sclerosis”, explains Francesco Ria, immunologist of the Catholic University. “We know that there exists a genetic factor and an environmental factor, but we do not yet possess a satisfactory theory which can explain how exactly this environmental factor works”.
Currently, there are two competing theories in the field: according to a first hypothesis, a virus hides within the brain and what causes the disease is the immunologic antiviral reaction. On the other hand, the second hypothesis states that a viral or bacterial pathogen similar to specific molecules of the Central Nervous System causes an inflammation which provokes a reaction of the immune system. This reaction ends up destroying the brain cells. The latter is called the autoimmune hypothesis.
January 20, '10: New Ways to Treat Multiple Sclerosis
Category: M.S. Research Study Reports
Posted by: stuart
January 2010
Source: WSJ.com
By THOMAS GRYTA and JON KAMP
Multiple sclerosis seems to damage the central nervous system at a pace faster than the body's own repair mechanism can keep up. In an attempt to find new approaches to treat the disease, scientists are exploring techniques to give the repair process a boost.
An important area of research focuses on ways to help the body regenerate a fatty substance called myelin, which is damaged by attacks brought on by MS patients' own immune system. Myelin protects nerve fibers, or axons, much like insulation on electrical wire. Currently, the principal treatment for MS is with medications that aim to slow the disease's progression, but don't help repair the damage.
=============================================Source: WSJ.com
By THOMAS GRYTA and JON KAMP
Multiple sclerosis seems to damage the central nervous system at a pace faster than the body's own repair mechanism can keep up. In an attempt to find new approaches to treat the disease, scientists are exploring techniques to give the repair process a boost.
An important area of research focuses on ways to help the body regenerate a fatty substance called myelin, which is damaged by attacks brought on by MS patients' own immune system. Myelin protects nerve fibers, or axons, much like insulation on electrical wire. Currently, the principal treatment for MS is with medications that aim to slow the disease's progression, but don't help repair the damage.
December 21, '09: Study could hold key to MS treatment
Category: M.S. Research Study Reports
Posted by: stuart
THE BUFFALO NEWS
By Henry L. Davis
NEWS MEDICAL REPORTER
Updated: December 19, 2009, 11:50 PM
Buffalo researchers early next year expect to report the initial results of the first major study of a controversial new theory that multiple sclerosis is caused by blockages in the veins that drain the brain.
If proven correct, the novel theory could overturn the current understanding of how to diagnose and treat a disabling and incurable disease that attacks the nervous system.
Click here to read more
=============================================By Henry L. Davis
NEWS MEDICAL REPORTER
Updated: December 19, 2009, 11:50 PM
Buffalo researchers early next year expect to report the initial results of the first major study of a controversial new theory that multiple sclerosis is caused by blockages in the veins that drain the brain.
If proven correct, the novel theory could overturn the current understanding of how to diagnose and treat a disabling and incurable disease that attacks the nervous system.
Click here to read more
December 20, '09: Interest in CCSVI for Multiple Sclerosis is Growing
Category: M.S. Research Study Reports
Posted by: stuart
My Thanks to Karen Hart in Florida for providing me with the information found below, and she thanks Peggy Starks for sending it to her
"Dr. Zivadinov in Buffalo is now starting a new study, recruiting 1,600 adults and 100 children, half of them MS patients. He plans to use ultrasound and MRI scans to confirm if those with MS also have CCSVI and if their family members have the abnormalities too.
Prof. Mark Haake, a neuro-imaging scientist at McMaster University and Wayne State University in Detroit is also intrigued by Zamboni's findings. He has long been seeing iron deposits in the brains of MS patients using a specialized MRI analysis called SWI - specific weighted imaging. When he saw Zamboni's initial publications, he immediately contacted the Italian doctor and began collaborating.
Population studies under way
Haake too is initiating a study, asking neurological centres across North America and Europe to take some extra MRI scans of the neck and upper chest of MS patients. The scans can then be electronically sent to his research team for analysis. He believes this grassroots approach could spur larger and more in depth studies. He's hoping he can engage MS specialists and vascular surgeons, interventional radiologist around the world to study the theory and then move to diagnosing and treating MS patients quickly.
"I think patients do play a role, because there are millions and millions of dollars donated to MS Societies and a lot of money set aside by the government to study MS research and right now, 99.9 per cent of that money goes somewhere else," he told W5.
============================================="Dr. Zivadinov in Buffalo is now starting a new study, recruiting 1,600 adults and 100 children, half of them MS patients. He plans to use ultrasound and MRI scans to confirm if those with MS also have CCSVI and if their family members have the abnormalities too.
Prof. Mark Haake, a neuro-imaging scientist at McMaster University and Wayne State University in Detroit is also intrigued by Zamboni's findings. He has long been seeing iron deposits in the brains of MS patients using a specialized MRI analysis called SWI - specific weighted imaging. When he saw Zamboni's initial publications, he immediately contacted the Italian doctor and began collaborating.
Population studies under way
Haake too is initiating a study, asking neurological centres across North America and Europe to take some extra MRI scans of the neck and upper chest of MS patients. The scans can then be electronically sent to his research team for analysis. He believes this grassroots approach could spur larger and more in depth studies. He's hoping he can engage MS specialists and vascular surgeons, interventional radiologist around the world to study the theory and then move to diagnosing and treating MS patients quickly.
"I think patients do play a role, because there are millions and millions of dollars donated to MS Societies and a lot of money set aside by the government to study MS research and right now, 99.9 per cent of that money goes somewhere else," he told W5.
November 24, '09: Experimental MS surgery draws Canadian interest
Category: M.S. Research Study Reports
Posted by: stuart
CBC News - Last Updated: Monday, November 23, 2009 | 10:38 PM ET
The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada will be asking Canadian scientists to propose their own research into a procedure that has ignited the hopes of patients in Europe and North America.
The procedure is known as chronic cerebro spinal venous insufficiency, or CCSVI, and involves removing a blockage in the veins that carry blood to and from the brain.
An Italian vascular surgeon, Dr. Paolo Zamboni, a professor of medicine at the University of Ferrara in Italy, has reported success in reducing the symptoms of people who suffer from multiple sclerosis.
The Canadian MS organization has reacted to Zamboni's research with caution. On Monday, however, the society said that after receiving so many inquiries about the procedure, it has decided to offer a grant to researchers in Canada. Details of the program will be announced Tuesday.
In the meantime, the society urged people with MS to be patient and continue with their regular treatment until there is more evidence about the experimental procedure.
Multiple sclerosis is considered a neurodegenerative disease that attacks the brain and spinal cord, causing inflammation and damage that can lead to paralysis and sometimes blindness. Nerve fibres that send electrical signals in the brain are coated in a fatty sheath called myelin. Myelin acts as an insulator, like a plastic coating covering a copper wire.
The symptoms of MS are caused by the breakdown of myelin, which leads to problems in how messages are transmitted to the central nervous system.
Conventional wisdom suggests multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disorder caused by immune cells attacking neurons and the brain.
But Zamboni thinks a drainage problem is to blame and that the condition can be treated or prevented by surgically unclogging veins to get blood flowing normally again.
So far, Zamboni has performed the angioplasty-like surgery, known as "la liberation" in Italian, on 120 MS patients, including his wife, whose multiple sclerosis provoked his interest in tackling the disease.
=============================================
The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada will be asking Canadian scientists to propose their own research into a procedure that has ignited the hopes of patients in Europe and North America.
The procedure is known as chronic cerebro spinal venous insufficiency, or CCSVI, and involves removing a blockage in the veins that carry blood to and from the brain.
An Italian vascular surgeon, Dr. Paolo Zamboni, a professor of medicine at the University of Ferrara in Italy, has reported success in reducing the symptoms of people who suffer from multiple sclerosis.
The Canadian MS organization has reacted to Zamboni's research with caution. On Monday, however, the society said that after receiving so many inquiries about the procedure, it has decided to offer a grant to researchers in Canada. Details of the program will be announced Tuesday.
In the meantime, the society urged people with MS to be patient and continue with their regular treatment until there is more evidence about the experimental procedure.
Multiple sclerosis is considered a neurodegenerative disease that attacks the brain and spinal cord, causing inflammation and damage that can lead to paralysis and sometimes blindness. Nerve fibres that send electrical signals in the brain are coated in a fatty sheath called myelin. Myelin acts as an insulator, like a plastic coating covering a copper wire.
The symptoms of MS are caused by the breakdown of myelin, which leads to problems in how messages are transmitted to the central nervous system.
Conventional wisdom suggests multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disorder caused by immune cells attacking neurons and the brain.
But Zamboni thinks a drainage problem is to blame and that the condition can be treated or prevented by surgically unclogging veins to get blood flowing normally again.
So far, Zamboni has performed the angioplasty-like surgery, known as "la liberation" in Italian, on 120 MS patients, including his wife, whose multiple sclerosis provoked his interest in tackling the disease.
'Tremendous interest'
Category: M.S. Research Study Reports
Posted by: stuart
Source: Buffalo Edu News
Release Date: November 16, 2009
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Magnetic resonance images (MRI) of patients diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in childhood show that pediatric onset multiple sclerosis is more aggressive, and causes more brain lesions, than MS diagnosed in adulthood, researchers at the University at Buffalo have reported.
Interestingly, however, patients with pediatric-onset MS -- which comprise up to 5 percent of total MS cases -- develop disabilities at a slower pace than patients with adult-onset MS, the data showed.
"Patients with pediatric-onset MS have three times as many relapses annually than patients with adult-onset disease, which suggests there is greater disease activity in this population," said Bianca Weinstock-Guttman, MD, associate professor of neurology in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and corresponding author.
=============================================Release Date: November 16, 2009
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Magnetic resonance images (MRI) of patients diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in childhood show that pediatric onset multiple sclerosis is more aggressive, and causes more brain lesions, than MS diagnosed in adulthood, researchers at the University at Buffalo have reported.
Interestingly, however, patients with pediatric-onset MS -- which comprise up to 5 percent of total MS cases -- develop disabilities at a slower pace than patients with adult-onset MS, the data showed.
"Patients with pediatric-onset MS have three times as many relapses annually than patients with adult-onset disease, which suggests there is greater disease activity in this population," said Bianca Weinstock-Guttman, MD, associate professor of neurology in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and corresponding author.
September 11, '09: New Data from CLARITY Study on Disease Activity in MS Patients reported at ECTRIMS
Category: M.S. Research Study Reports
Posted by: stuart
September 11, 2009
New Data from CLARITY Study on Disease Activity in MS Patients
Who Received Cladribine Tablets Presented at 25th ECTRIMS Congress
· Post-hoc analysis from CLARITY study show that short-course oral treatment with Cladribine Tablets significantly increased the proportion of patients who had absence of disease activity compared with placebo
Düsseldorf, Germany, and Geneva, Switzerland,
September 11, 2009 – Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, announced new data from a post-hoc analysis of the two-year (96-week) placebo-controlled CLARITY1 Phase III trial using a short-course of Cladribine Tablets (Merck Serono’s proprietary investigational oral formulation of cladribine) to treat patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS). The data from this post-hoc analysis of the CLARITY study were presented at the 25th congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) in Düsseldorf, Germany.2
=============================================New Data from CLARITY Study on Disease Activity in MS Patients
Who Received Cladribine Tablets Presented at 25th ECTRIMS Congress
· Post-hoc analysis from CLARITY study show that short-course oral treatment with Cladribine Tablets significantly increased the proportion of patients who had absence of disease activity compared with placebo
Düsseldorf, Germany, and Geneva, Switzerland,
September 11, 2009 – Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, announced new data from a post-hoc analysis of the two-year (96-week) placebo-controlled CLARITY1 Phase III trial using a short-course of Cladribine Tablets (Merck Serono’s proprietary investigational oral formulation of cladribine) to treat patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS). The data from this post-hoc analysis of the CLARITY study were presented at the 25th congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) in Düsseldorf, Germany.2
July 22, '09: Prediction of acute multiple sclerosis relapses by transcription levels of peripheral blood cells
Category: M.S. Research Study Reports
Posted by: stuart
7th Space
The ability to predict the spatial frequency of relapses in multiple sclerosis (MS) would enable physicians to decide when to intervene more aggressively and to plan clinical trials more accurately.
Methods: In the current study our objective was to determine if subsets of genes can predict the time to the next acute relapse in patients with MS. Data-mining and predictive modeling tools were utilized to analyze a gene-expression dataset of 94 non-treated patients; 62 patients with definite MS and 32 patients with clinically isolated syndrome (CIS).
The dataset included the expression levels of 10,594 genes and annotated sequences corresponding to 22,215 gene-transcripts that appear in the microarray.
Click here to continue
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The ability to predict the spatial frequency of relapses in multiple sclerosis (MS) would enable physicians to decide when to intervene more aggressively and to plan clinical trials more accurately.
Methods: In the current study our objective was to determine if subsets of genes can predict the time to the next acute relapse in patients with MS. Data-mining and predictive modeling tools were utilized to analyze a gene-expression dataset of 94 non-treated patients; 62 patients with definite MS and 32 patients with clinically isolated syndrome (CIS).
The dataset included the expression levels of 10,594 genes and annotated sequences corresponding to 22,215 gene-transcripts that appear in the microarray.
Click here to continue
-----
if you are not yet registered to receive our weekly MS related e-Newsletter, called "Stu's Views and MS Related News", please click here to register. It will take less than 30 seconds to complete this form. - Thank you
.
Category: M.S. Research Study Reports
Posted by: stuart
Sensory complaints of the upper extremities in multiple sclerosis: relative efficacy of nortriptyline and trans cutaneous electrical nerve stimulation
summary: Pain and other unpleasant sensory disturbances are relatively common in MS and can have an important impact on the quality of life. These symptoms are generally due to damage in the central nervous system and their treatment is often unsatisfactory.
A number of drugs have been used with this purpose but these are not always effective and they are not without side-effects. For these reasons, the management of pain and sensory disturbances in MS can be difficult and very frustrating for people with MS and clinicians. In this study the authors aimed to compare the efficacy of nortryptiline and self-applied transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) in a group of people with MS and pain or sensory disturbances in the arms. They found that both treatments were similarly efficient in reducing these symptoms.
authors: Chitsaz A, Janghorbani M, Shaygannejad V, Ashtari F, Heshmatipour M, Freeman J
source: Clin J Pain. 2009 May;25(4):281-5
To read full article: click here
above information obtained from www.msif.org
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Category: M.S. Research Study Reports
Posted by: stuart
Medical News Today (url found below)
A drug currently FDA-approved for use in diabetes shows some protective effects in the brains of patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine report in a study currently available online in the Journal of Neuroimmunology.
In a small, double-blinded clinical trial, patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis were assigned to take pioglitazone (a drug commercially known as Actos used to treat type-2 diabetes) or a placebo. Patients continued their normal course of therapy during the trial.
=============================================
A drug currently FDA-approved for use in diabetes shows some protective effects in the brains of patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine report in a study currently available online in the Journal of Neuroimmunology.
In a small, double-blinded clinical trial, patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis were assigned to take pioglitazone (a drug commercially known as Actos used to treat type-2 diabetes) or a placebo. Patients continued their normal course of therapy during the trial.
